Lenovo W541 trackpoint buttons

English Hardware
1

On a new Lenovo W541 (20EF000YGE) with openSUSE 13.2 x86_64 the trackpoint buttons should work as mouse buttons for the trackpoint.
But actually they resemble cursor up (left) and cursor down (right) keys.
This behavior is not connected to the trackpad (which I have disabled in my case).
Any idea on how to make them “real” mouse buttons again?

2

Are you using KDE or GNOME?

This little script was found on the KDE Forum. Manually install the “synclient” package using: zypper in synclient
Run the command:

synclient TouchpadOff=1

In kde4, configure a keyboard shortcut (using Custom Shortcuts in System Settings > Shortcuts & Gestures) to execute either command.

A handy script for "mousepad on ! off".   Alt-F2 opens a line which enables one run "mousepad on | off".   
#!/usr/bin/ruby

on_or_off = ARGV[0].to_s
if on_or_off.downcase == "on"
  puts "Turning on mousepad"
  `synclient TouchpadOff=0`
else
  puts "Turning off mousepad"
  `synclient TouchpadOff=1`
end
3

Romanator,
thanks for your suggestion - that’s a more elegant solution than using udev rules to enable/disable the touchpad.
But that’s not the issue, I have already disabled the touchpad/trackpad.
Problem is that the three physical mouse buttons above the touchpad don’t work as designed. They are for the trackpoint not for the touchpad, therefore their behaviour is not affected by enabling/disabling the touchpad.

4

What I’ve been reading on different forums and the recommendations were to primarily update to “xf86-input-synaptics-1.8.2-76.1.x86_64.rpm”, “xf86-input-evdev-2.9.2-54.1.x86_64.rpm”
and especially your kernel to the latest kernel 3.19x or kernel-4.0x. A number of patches have been introduced for the W540 and higher.

Add this repo to Yast http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/X11:/XOrg/openSUSE_13.2/

Please uninstall the Nvidia driver that you have installed for kernel 3.16. I would recommend using the “nouveau” driver until you get the buttons working.

To update kernel to 3.19 add http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Kernel:/stable/standard/

To update to kernel 4.0x add http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Kernel:/HEAD/standard/

Please try the following configuration and put it in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-synaptics.conf file.


Section "InputClass"
     Identifier "Default clickpad buttons"
     MatchDriver "synaptics"
    
    Option "SoftButtonAreas" "60% 0 0 2400 40% 60% 0 2400"
    Option "AreaTopEdge" "2400"

    Option "TapButton1" "1"
    Option "TapButton3" "2"
    Option "TapButton2" "3"

    # Calm the pad down while clicking
    Option "VertHysteresis" "50"
    Option "HorizHysteresis" "50"

    # Drag lock
    Option "LockedDrags" "1"

    # Tap to click
    Option "FingerLow" "50"
    Option "FingerHigh" "55"
    
    # Prevent accidental clicks
    Option "PalmDetect" "1"
    Option "PalmMinWidth" "5"
    Option "PalmMinZ" "40"
    
    # Natural scrolling
    Option "VertTwoFingerScroll" "1"
    Option "VertScrollDelta" "-90"
    Option "HorizTwoFingerScroll" "1"
    Option "HorizScrollDelta" "-90"
    
    Option "MinSpeed" "1"
    Option "MaxSpeed" "1"
    
    Option "AccelerationProfile" "2"
    Option "ConstantDeceleration" "4"
EndSection

Good Luck!

5

Follow Up

Please try the two commands below to get the trackpoint buttons working.

modprobe -r psmouse 
modprobe psmouse proto=imps
6

That won’t work for modules built in as part of the kernel (as is the case with openSUSE).

7

Thanks for your help. I will test your suggestions but I refrain from fiddling about the kernel right now since I need a fully operational notebook next week.

8

I stand corrected. Thanks Deano.

Patches have been applied to the latest “xf86-input-synaptics” package with more to come. Additional patches are being finalized for the kernel 4.0.0x which has been released.
There is talk about backporting to kernel 3.16x. This is a cross-distro problem that is happening right now.

IMHO Please submit a bug report for your W541 against the “xf86-input-synaptics” package.
They are more informed about any patches. Ask them. You can also use dmesg to see what is happening.

Here is the link: http://bugzilla.opensuse.org/

Don’t forget to install “xinput”.

9

Issue resolved with kernel update to 4.0.0-2.g53b125b-desktop.
No further modules or modifications necessary, the physical mouse buttons are now working as designed (and VMware Workstation 11 is also running on the 4.0 kernel).
Thanks for your help - most of all to Romanator.

10

And thank you for reporting back!

11

That is great news for Lenovo T-series Thinkpad and portable workstation users. Working buttons and touchpad. What a relief.
A lot of patches that were created earlier this year for kernel 4.1 (including Lenovo 2015 models) were backported to 4.0.0-2.g53b125b-desktop.

When you have time can you please add your W541 workstation to our Lenovo database.

Enjoy!